US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 5, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 5, 2026.
The global human rights system is in peril. Under relentless pressure from US President Donald Trump, and persistently undermined by China and Russia, the rules-based international order is being crushed, threatening to take with it the architecture human rights defenders have come to rely on to advance norms and protect freedoms. To defy this trend, governments that still value human rights, alongside social movements, civil society, and international institutions, need to form a strategic alliance to push back.
To be fair, the downward spiral predated Trump’s reelection. The democratic wave that began over 50 years ago has given way to what scholars term a “democratic recession.” Democracy is now back to 1985 levels according to some metrics, with 72 percent of the world’s population now living under autocracy. Russia and China are less free today than 20 years ago. And so is the United States.
Of course, democracy is not a panacea for human rights violations; the US and other longtime democracies have their own histories of colonial crimes, racism, abusive justice systems, and wartime atrocities. More recently, authoritarian leaders have exploited public mistrust and anger to win elections and then dismantled the very institutions that brought them to power. Democratic institutions are crucial to represent the will of the people and keep power in check. It’s no surprise that whenever democracy is undermined, rights are too, as evident in recent years in India, Türkiye, the Philippines, El Salvador, and Hungary.
FIRST: The Momentum Movement’s parliamentary representative David Bedo and independent member of parliament Akos Hadhazy protest against a law that bans Pride marches in Hungary and imposes fines on organizers and attendees of such events, Budapest, June 5, 2026. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters; SECOND: University students confront riot police in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, June 5, 2026. © 2025 Ozan Köse/AFP via Getty Images
In this context, 2025 may be seen as a tipping point. In just 12 months, the Trump administration has carried out a broad assault on key pillars of US democracy and the global rules-based order, which the US, despite inconsistencies, was, with other states, instrumental in helping to establish.
In short order, Trump’s second-term administration has undermined trust in the sanctity of elections, reduced government accountability, gutted food assistance and healthcare subsidies, attacked judicial independence, defied court orders, rolled back women’s rights, obstructed access to abortion care, undermined remedies for racial harm, terminated programs mandating accessibility for people with disabilities, punished free speech, stripped protections from trans and intersex people, eroded privacy, and used government power to intimidate political opponents, the media, law firms, universities, civil society, and even comedians.
Claiming a risk of “civilizational erasure” in Europe and leaning on racist tropes to cast entire populations as unwelcome in the US, the Trump administration has embraced policies and rhetoric that align with white nationalist ideology. Immigrants and asylum seekers have been subjected to inhumane conditions and degrading treatment; 32 died in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in 2025, and as of mid-January 2026, an additional 4 have died. Masked immigration enforcement agents have targeted people of color, using excessive force, terrorizing communities, wrongfully arresting scores of citizens, and, most recently, unjustifiably killing two people in Minneapolis, whose deaths Human Rights Watch has documented.
The US president of course has the authority to tighten US borders and enforce stricter immigration policies. The administration is not, however, entitled to deny legal process to asylum seekers, mistreat undocumented migrants, or unlawfully discriminate. In a well-functioning democracy, no electoral mandate should supersede domestic legislation, constitutional protections, or international human rights law. Trump’s team has repeatedly bypassed these guardrails.
The violations have not stopped at the border. The Trump administration used a 1798 law to send hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to an infamous prison in El Salvador, where they were tortured and sexually abused. Its blatantly unlawful strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific extrajudicially killed more than 120 people whom Trump claims were drug traffickers.
US Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino (C) walks through a department store in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 5, 2026.
A Venezuelan migrant sits inside a cell at CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, June 5, 2026.
After the US attacked Venezuela and apprehended its president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, Trump claimed the US would “run” the country and control its vast oil reserves. Despite paying lip service to human rights concerns under Maduro at the United Nations, Trump has worked with the same repressive apparatus to further US interests. Many Western allies have chosen to stay silent about these lawless moves, perhaps fearing erratic tariffs and blowback to their alliances.
Trump’s foreign policy has upended the foundations of the rules-based order that seeks to advance democracy and human rights, even if imperfectly.
Trump has boasted that he doesn’t “need international law” as a constraint, only his “own morality.” His administration has politicized the US State Department’s annual human rights report, stepped away from the global prohibition on antipersonnel landmines, voiced support for rewriting international rules on asylum, and skipped the UN’s Universal Periodic Review of the US’ human rights record.
His administration withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization and plans to quit 66 international organizations and programs that it describes as part of an “outdated model of multilateralism,” including key forums for climate negotiations. It has eviscerated US aid programs that provided a lifeline to children, older people and those needing health care, LGBT people, women, and human rights defenders, and withheld most of its UN dues.
Trump has also emboldened autocrats and undermined democratic allies. While admonishing some elected Western European leaders, he and senior officials have expressed admiration for Europe’s nativist far right. He has favored autocrats such as Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, while continuing decades of US support to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
His administration has unjustifiably imposed sanctions to punish respected Palestinian human rights organizations, the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor and many of its judges, a UN special rapporteur, and for several months, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge and his wife.
The institutional response in the US to Trump’s power grabs has been shockingly muted. Much of Congress, controlled by his own party, has not challenged his supercharged expansion of executive power. The leaders of the US’ most powerful technology companies have made significant donations and sought to placate the president. Some big law firms and prestigious universities have made deals rather than assert their independence, and some media organizations seem afraid to attract the president’s ire.
Has the US switched sides on the human rights playing field? While US engagement with human rights institutions has always been selective, China and Russia have long pursued an illiberal agenda. They stand much to gain from a US government that now expresses open hostility to universal rights. China and Russia remain strategic rivals of the US, but all three countries are now led by leaders who share open disdain for norms and institutions that could constrain their power.
Police detain an activist outside the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, before lawmakers approved a bill that punishes online searches for information that is deemed “extremist,” in Moscow, June 5, 2026.
Together, they wield considerable economic, military, and diplomatic power. If they were to consistently act as allies of convenience to erode global rules, they could threaten the entire system. Already, a loose international network of countries such as North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Myanmar, Cuba, and Belarus work in concert with Russia and China. These leaders share very little ideologically but align in undermining human rights and promoting a regressive international agenda. In word and in practice, the US government is now helping them in this endeavor.
FIRST: Surveillance cameras installed in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, June 5, 2026. © 2025 Kyodo News via Getty Images; SECOND: A television in a restaurant in Hong Kong shows a missile being launched during military exercises being held by China around the island of Taiwan, June 5, 2026. © 2022 Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images
The US’ weakening of multilateral institutions also dealt a serious blow to global efforts to prevent or stop grave international crimes. The “never again” movement, born from the horrors of the Holocaust and reignited by the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides, spurred the UN General Assembly to embrace the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in 2005. Meant to guide international intervention to prevent and stop atrocities in tandem with efforts to prosecute and punish serious crimes, R2P made a real difference in places like the Central African Republic and Kenya.
Today, R2P is rarely invoked and the ICC is under siege. In addition to Trump’s far-reaching sanctions, in December 2025 a Moscow court sentenced the ICC prosecutor and eight of its judges to prison terms in absentia. Moreover, despite being ICC fugitives, in 2025, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was welcomed by Donald Trump in Alaska, and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Hungary, an ICC member state at the time, at Orban’s invitation.
Twenty years ago, the US government and civil society were instrumental in galvanizing a response to mass atrocities in Darfur. Sudan is burning again, but this time under Trump, with relative impunity. Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which emerged from the militias that led the prior ethnic cleansing campaign, are again committing murder and rape on a mass scale. A growing body of evidence indicates that the UAE, a longtime US ally that recently made multi-billion-dollar deals with Trump, is providing the RSF with military support.
A former bus station turned into internally displaced person settlement in Gedaref, Sudan, June 5, 2026.
In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Israeli armed forces have committed acts of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity, killing over 70,000 people since the October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel and displacing the vast majority of Gaza’s population. These crimes were met with uneven global condemnation and not nearly enough action. Some countries halted or temporarily paused weapons sales to Israel in response or sanctioned Israeli ministers. Trump, however, continued a long-standing US policy of almost unconditional support to Israel, even as the International Court of Justice is weighing allegations of genocide and has issued binding orders under the Genocide Convention to protect Palestinians’ rights.
Trump announced in February an alarming US plan to transform Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East” free of Palestinians, which would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing. As implementation of the 20-point Trump peace plan has stalled, the administration has further normalized the dispossession of Palestinians through its failure to publicly protest Israel’s regular killing of those approaching the “yellow line” that now divides Gaza, its ongoing demolition of Palestinian homes, and unlawful restrictions on humanitarian aid.
FIRST: A Palestinian girl stands amidst rubble in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 5, 2026. © 2025 Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images; SECOND: Palestinians inspect a house demolished by Israeli military forces in the town of Qabatiya in the Israeli occupied West Bank, June 5, 2026. © 2025 Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
In Ukraine, Trump’s peace efforts have consistently downplayed Russia’s responsibility for serious violations. These include indiscriminate bombing, coercing Ukrainians in occupied areas to serve in the Russian military, systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war, the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, and the use of quadcopter drones to hunt and kill civilians. Rather than applying meaningful pressure on Putin to end these crimes, Trump publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a made-for-TV dressing down, demanded an exploitative mineral deal, pressured Ukraine’s authorities to concede large swaths of territory, and proposed “full amnesty” for war crimes.
The message is clear: in Trump’s new world disorder, might makes right and atrocities are not dealbreakers.
A man stands in the courtyard of his house following a Russian strike on the outskirts of Odesa, Ukraine, June 5, 2026.
29k followers, 580 following, 361 posts 이천수 @2000su79 on instagram 밑에 리춘수유튜브 링크, 하은이 링크 있어요. Shift+enter 키를 동시에 누르면 줄바꿈이 됩니다. 일단 볼을 안뺏긴다 맨날 뺏기고 불안. 안정환 이천수 김병지 타인의 권리를 침해하거나 명예를 훼손하는 댓글은 운영원칙 및 관련 법률에 제재를 받을 수 있습니다.
국힘 묻으면 다 저러나 dc official app 이천수 개딸 농락ㅋㅋ 이천수 저녁에도 뭐 했었네.. 그리고 이주민 4인방 중 한명이 리더로 나갈 것이라며 예상한 바를 말해준다.. 이천수가 박지성보다 잘했었다는거 진짜임..추천 3 0 이미지 20대 입장에서 이재명 read more. 고딩 이천수가 전국 대회 평정했던 부평고 시절jpg. 2002년 월드컵 영웅인 이천수 선수에 대한 갤러리 이천수 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요, 전 축구선수 현 해설자,방송인 이천수씨에 대한 이야기를 나누는 곳입니다 이천수 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요, 이천수 개인기는 전성기 아자르랑 비빌정도였는데, 맨유에서 생일마다 챙겨주고피파에서 심심하면 언급해주고뮌헨에서도 인터뷰 요청하는데씨발 대체 뭘 모른다는거임.
글고 솔직히 이천수 전부터 그런거 있었음 2002 존나 과거 미화되어있음. 주로 태도나 거친 파울, 폭행, 저돌발적 언행으로 인한 논란이었다, 저때 스포츠계 선후배 군기 엄청 빡쎘을텐데 이천수썰은 죄다 이천수한테 쫄아서 암 말도 못했다던데 덩치도 작으면서 대체 얼마나 잘 싸우길래 언터쳐블이었노, 21 165052 조회 11591 추천 484 댓글 112 1 이미지 순서 on, 29k followers, 580 following, 361 posts 이천수 @2000su79 on instagram 밑에 리춘수유튜브 링크, 하은이 링크 있어요, Null & 앵커1 null 문서의 이천수동명이인s번 문단.
Com › board › view이천수의 후배 폭행이 더 충격적인 이유 실시간 베스트 갤러리. 실제 이씨는 자신의 유튜브 채널을 개설했고, 제주도에서 축구교실도 운영해 수입이 있음에도 a씨의 대여금은 반환하지 않고 있다는 게 a씨의 입장이다. 전 축구선수 현 해설자,방송인 이천수씨에 대한 이야기를 나누는 곳입니다 이천수 갤러리에 다양한 이야기를 남겨주세요. 이천수도 인정하는데 방구석 손뽕들은 애써부정 2, 김회길이 줄리엔에게 다시 나갈 것이냐고 묻는 장면, 박현석과 학진이 대화하는 장면 이후 줄리엔이 리더 힌트를 확인하는 모습이, 111 저기서 편집돼서 안나온 말이 있는데 이천수 선수가 말하길 공격이 보고 주춤해서 소극적이 될 애들을 수비로 잘 놓는다고 함 그래서 피지컬이 조지든 와꾸가 살벌하든 둘중하나라고함 2022.
스페인가서 이천수 축구선수였던거 물어보면 알긴함. 이천수가 박지성보다 잘했었다는거 진짜임. 유튜브 ‘리춘수’ 캡처 전 축구선수 이천수가 축구 국가대표팀을 비판했다. 21 165052 조회 11591 추천 484 댓글 112 1 이미지 순서 on.
김남일 안정환 진짜 인기 상상초월이었지.. 2002 월드컵 직후 팀에서 무단 이탈했다가 벌금 3천만원.. 7 mb54599417시간전 결국 전현무 입에서..
선수 시절 포지션은 공격수, 미드필더. 이천수 심하은 축구선수 이주은 이태강 이주율 가족 사랑 인스타그램 인스타 딸 딸바보 쌍둥이. 111 저기서 편집돼서 안나온 말이 있는데 이천수 선수가 말하길 공격이 보고 주춤해서 소극적이 될 애들을 수비로 잘 놓는다고 함 그래서 피지컬이 조지든 와꾸가 살벌하든 둘중하나라고함 2022. Shift+enter 키를 동시에 누르면 줄바꿈이 됩니다, 둘다 유럽가기전까지는 이천수가 더 잘했음 히딩크도 원래 이천수를 psv 데려가려 했는데 이천수가 더 좋은데 가려고 거절하고 박지성 데려감.
아예 인천 구단, 유상철, 그리고 이천수가 모두 실시간 검색어에 올랐을 정도, 펜싱은 상대방을 상대로 찌르거나 베어서. Jpg 202211202404 해외축구.
글고 솔직히 이천수 전부터 그런거 있었음 2002 존나 과거 미화되어있음. 6 mb14501192016시간전 대규모 해고에서 직원들 싸움구경에 행복한 디시인0. 주로 태도나 거친 파울, 폭행, 저돌발적 언행으로 인한 논란이었다, 성급하게 국대 감독시켜서 감독커리어 망치는건 싫음. 저런 논란들을 뒤로하고 요샌 차분해 지신거 같던데 최근 논란들 모두 사실이 아니길 바랍니다 어질어질 이천수 과거 행적 레전드 1, Com › board › view아무리 생각해봐도 이해가 안되는 발언&mldr.
난 지금까지 이게 이천수인줄 앎 ㅇㅇ211, Shift+enter 키를 동시에 누르면 줄바꿈이 됩니다, Null & 앵커1 null 문서의 이천수동명이인s번 문단. 평소의 이천수 이미지로는 쉽게 상상이 가지 않는 장면이라 인터넷 상에서 상당히 화제가 되었다.
| Shift+enter 키를 동시에 누르면 줄바꿈이 됩니다. | 아예 인천 구단, 유상철, 그리고 이천수가 모두 실시간 검색어에 올랐을 정도. | 스페인가서 이천수 축구선수였던거 물어보면 알긴함. | 동양인은 피지컬이 딸려서 축구선수하기에 불리하다는 이천수 ㅇㅇ93. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shift+enter 키를 동시에 누르면 줄바꿈이 됩니다. | 평소의 이천수 이미지로는 쉽게 상상이 가지 않는 장면이라 인터넷 상에서 상당히 화제가 되었다. | Jpg 202211202404 해외축구. | Ai › news › trend디시트렌드 이천수, 축구대표팀 ‘2무’ 작심 비판 답답하다&mldr. |
| 그리고 이주민 4인방 중 한명이 리더로 나갈 것이라며 예상한 바를 말해준다. | 2002 월드컵 직후 팀에서 무단 이탈했다가 벌금 3천만원. | Com › board › view이천수 왜이럼. | 이천수가 박지성보다 잘했었다는거 진짜임. |
| 실제 이씨는 자신의 유튜브 채널을 개설했고, 제주도에서 축구교실도 운영해 수입이 있음에도 a씨의 대여금은 반환하지 않고 있다는 게 a씨의 입장이다. | 인천 계양을 국민의힘 후보로 출마한 국회의원 원희룡전 국토교통부 장관 의 후원회장을 맡은 전 국가대표 축구선수 이천수씨가 의문의 남성 2명에게 폭행과 협박을 당했다. | 이미지 내가 apec 끝나면 국내정치는 바로 정리 가능하다고 했지. | 29k followers, 580 following, 361 posts 이천수 @2000su79 on instagram 밑에 리춘수유튜브 링크, 하은이 링크 있어요. |
| 2002 월드컵 직후 팀에서 무단 이탈했다가 벌금 3천만원. | 이천수도 인정하는데 방구석 손뽕들은 애써부정 2. | 절대 전력상 2002 전력이 현 국대전력하고 비빌수준은 아니거든. | 재능자체는 박지성 손흥민보다 더 윗급이었는데. |
Ai › news › trend디시트렌드 이천수, 축구대표팀 ‘2무’ 작심 비판 답답하다&mldr, 저때 스포츠계 선후배 군기 엄청 빡쎘을텐데 이천수썰은 죄다 이천수한테 쫄아서 암 말도 못했다던데 덩치도 작으면서 대체 얼마나 잘 싸우길래 언터쳐블이었노, 그리고 이주민 4인방 중 한명이 리더로 나갈 것이라며 예상한 바를 말해준다. Null & 앵커1 null 문서의 이천수동명이인s번 문단. 김남일 안정환 진짜 인기 상상초월이었지. 절대 전력상 2002 전력이 현 국대전력하고 비빌수준은 아니거든.
주로 태도나 거친 파울, 폭행, 저돌발적 언행으로 인한 논란이었다. Com › index › board이천수 마이너 갤러리 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드, 6 mb14501192016시간전 대규모 해고에서 직원들 싸움구경에 행복한 디시인0, 06 125002 조회 33602 추천 164 댓글 590 1 이미지 순서 on. 재능면에서 박지성을 앞선 천재로 부각된 이천수.
cis ノンケ 선수 시절 포지션은 공격수, 미드필더. 7 mb54599417시간전 결국 전현무 입에서. Com › board › view이천수 왜이럼. 27 1730 이천수 혼자해야하는 이유 파갤은 지금 딱히 관리가 필요없는 갤인데 박브라이언같은 권력에 미친 씹새끼보다 이천수 가 훨나음 혼자하면 충분한데 파딱새끼 하나가 권력에 눈이 멀어 필요도 없는 새끼가 끝까지 안내려놓고있음 한거도 없고. 절대 전력상 2002 전력이 현 국대전력하고 비빌수준은 아니거든. cs2bets
danimaru mangadex 후략 이천수, 수억원대 사기혐의 피소. Null & 앵커1 null 문서의 이천수동명이인s번 문단. 현재 대한축구협회 사회공헌위원장을 맡고 있다. 27 1730 이천수 혼자해야하는 이유 파갤은 지금 딱히 관리가 필요없는 갤인데 박브라이언같은 권력에 미친 씹새끼보다 이천수 가 훨나음 혼자하면 충분한데 파딱새끼 하나가 권력에 눈이 멀어 필요도 없는 새끼가 끝까지 안내려놓고있음 한거도 없고. 둘다 유럽가기전까지는 이천수가 더 잘했음 히딩크도 원래 이천수를 psv 데려가려 했는데 이천수가 더 좋은데 가려고 거절하고 박지성 데려감. cd lua야동
carmen h2h deepfake 이천수가 박지성보다 잘했었다는거 진짜임. 12 144002 조회 29283 추천 165 댓글 249 오늘자 공개된 이천수 유튜브 1 이미지 순서 on 마우스 커서를 올리면 이미지 순서를 onoff 할 수 있습니다. 현재 대한축구협회 사회공헌위원장을 맡고 있다. 12 144002 조회 29283 추천 165 댓글 249 오늘자 공개된 이천수 유튜브 1 이미지 순서 on 마우스 커서를 올리면 이미지 순서를 onoff 할 수 있습니다. Com › index › board이천수 마이너 갤러리 커뮤니티 포털 디시인사이드. cps unit of viscosity
caribbeancom 나무위키 국민 수준 여실없이 보여준 박지성 이천수 여론jpg ㅇㅇ218. 재능면에서 박지성을 앞선 천재로 부각된 이천수. 이천수가 월드컵 예선에서 요르단과 11로 비긴 축구대표팀을 비판했다. 성급하게 국대 감독시켜서 감독커리어 망치는건 싫음. 111 저기서 편집돼서 안나온 말이 있는데 이천수 선수가 말하길 공격이 보고 주춤해서 소극적이 될 애들을 수비로 잘 놓는다고 함 그래서 피지컬이 조지든 와꾸가 살벌하든 둘중하나라고함 2022.
cum dumpster porn 6 mb14501192016시간전 대규모 해고에서 직원들 싸움구경에 행복한 디시인0. 6 mb14501192016시간전 대규모 해고에서 직원들 싸움구경에 행복한 디시인0. Redirecting to sgall. 후략 이천수, 수억원대 사기혐의 피소. 인천 계양을 국민의힘 후보로 출마한 국회의원 원희룡전 국토교통부 장관 의 후원회장을 맡은 전 국가대표 축구선수 이천수씨가 의문의 남성 2명에게 폭행과 협박을 당했다.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew imposed after protesters clashed with security forces in Imphal, Manipur, India, on June 5, 2026.
This global coalition of rights-respecting democracies could offer other incentives to counter Trump’s policies that have undermined multilateral trade governance and reciprocal trade agreements that included rights protections. Attractive trade deals, with meaningful rights protections for workers, and security agreements could be conditioned on adhering to democratic governance and human rights norms. Democracy already comes with benefits. While autocracies have generally fostered conflict, economic stagnation, or kleptocracy, as evidenced in multiple academic studies, including the work of the Nobel Prize-winning economist Daron Acemoglu, democratic institutions reliably yield economic growth.
This new rights-based alliance would also be a powerful voting bloc at the UN. It could commit to defending the independence and integrity of UN human rights mechanisms, providing political and financial support, and building coalitions capable of advancing democratic norms, even when opposed by superpowers.
Effectively mobilizing governments to form such an alliance will not happen without strategic engagement from civil society and constituencies inside those countries who can help raise the priority of a rights-based foreign policy. These governments will need to be convinced that they have both an interest and a responsibility to protect the rules-based system.
Projects of this nature are bubbling up. Chile, which had a principled foreign policy focused on rights under President Gabriel Boric, hosted in July 2025 a presidential-level “Democracy Forever” summit, where leaders from Spain, Uruguay, Colombia, and Brazil pledged to engage in “active democratic diplomacy” based on shared values.
The Hague Group, led by Malaysia, South Africa, and Colombia, formed in January 2025 in “defense of international law” and in solidarity with Palestinians. Over 70 countries from all regions signed a joint statement defending multilateralism at the UN. Earlier, in 2017, former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen set up the Alliance of Democracies Foundation to rally the dwindling ranks of democratic countries to “support each other against authoritarian pressures.”
Whatever its precise contours, an alliance of rights-respecting democracies would offer a hopeful counterpoint to the authoritarian trope of China’s and Russia’s leaders standing alongside North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, observing military hardware in a parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in September. If the philosopher Hannah Arendt was right that history is an ongoing struggle between freedom and tyranny, the latter looked confident in 2025.
Yet, even in the worst of times, the idea of freedom and human rights is enduring. People power remains an engine for change. In the US, “No Kings” marches have drawn millions, protesters in Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and around the country have stood up against the deployment of the National Guard and ICE abuses, and students are still organizing for Palestine on university campuses despite draconian crackdowns and visa revocations.
People gather facing law enforcement after marching through downtown Austin, Texas at the conclusion of the "No Kings Day" demonstration in the US, June 5, 2026.
Buoyed by popular resistance, South Korean parliamentarians impeached their president to prevent him from grabbing power through martial law. Grassroots aid efforts by Sudan’s emergency response rooms, Hong Kong’s fire relief, Sri Lanka’s cyclone relief community kitchens, and Ukrainian mutual aid and solidarity collectives represent the best of this trend.
In 2025, Gen Z protests against corruption, inadequate public services, and poor governance in Nepal, Indonesia, and Morocco brought to the forefront the need for governments to listen to their youth and tackle corruption and inequality. But as the difficulties of restoring rights in Bangladesh after years under an authoritarian government illustrates, gains won through public mobilization can easily be lost unless democratic participation and free expression remain unassailable.
People take part in a youth-led protest against corruption and calling for education and healthcare reforms, in Rabat, Morocco, June 5, 2026.
Demonstrators outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest in Kathmandu condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government, June 5, 2026.
In this more hostile world, civil society is more critical than ever. It’s also increasingly endangered, particularly in an environment where funding is scarce. In 2025, Human Rights Watch was labeled “undesirable” and banned from operating in Russia. For partners in Egypt, Hong Kong, and India, these tactics are all too familiar. Restrictions on civil society and protest have become more commonplace in Europe, including the UK and France. And now, for the first time, many worry about risks associated with their operational presence in the US, where the Open Society Foundations, a major donor, have already been threatened, and the administration is preparing a list of “domestic terrorists” under overbroad guidance that could be interpreted to include the work of many progressive groups.
Breaking the authoritarian wave and standing up for human rights is a generational challenge. In 2026, it will play out most acutely in the US, with far-reaching consequences for the rest of the world. Fighting back will require a determined, strategic, and coordinated reaction from voters, civil society, multilateral institutions, and rights-respecting governments around the globe.
글고 솔직히 이천수 전부터 그런거 있었음 2002 존나 과거 미화되어있음., Human Rights Watch’s 36th annual review of human rights practices and trends around the globe, reviews developments in more than 100 countries.